Stan

Went away to Worcestershire with the family a few days ago and on one of the sunnier days, it was a very clear sky and this continued in to the sunset and evening darkness. To our luck, on this day was also the passing of the ISS. First time I'd ever seen it that bright and noticeable, and same for family. They were so stunned at how visible it was. Great sight. Moon was very low, few other bright objects in the sky. Gave my family a lesson in what the bright objects were (a faded Saturn, a bright and glowing Jupiter to the right of the moon). A reddish-hued Mars to the left which rose beautifully throughout the night. Also spotted some constellations too - Pegasus and Andromeda. As well as Pisces and Aquarius although this was very faint in the sky and was only just visible for a short time. We were in the hills so there weren't any tall buildings or trees to obstruct our view, or any haziness in the sky as a result. Totally clear, open views and it really was a beautiful sight. Looking up at the night sky is seriously under-rated and under-appreciated in my eyes (no pun intended!).

Should be sorted now.

@Tommy isn't that old. @SchalkeUK might be able to educate you

In the UK it's not all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes can be a detriment and they don't put up much of a fight against the 2 mainstream parties these days.

He's not wrong.

What's been said about Alonso by Lampard?

More millions spent on your defence but the mistakes and weakness will still be the same...

Just another addition to a long list of things that have been monumentally fucked up since the pandemic started. I don't get why it's called NHS Test and Trace. Its run by a private firm so why do they get to use the NHS' name? Stupid.

15 years is okay but 8 years isn't? What drugs you on mate

That is gross.

I agree with the final few points. We used to have two PCSOs for each small area/ward of our town. Used to be very productive and beneficial for the communities. It wasn't as if they were just there to only keep people in check. They actually got involved in communities and the visibility they had to be approachable genuinely worked. They actually had respect and even 'kids' didn't mind them being around. They'd have a laugh and a joke and a mess around with them. Take them away and those 'kids' get away with more, get involved in the wrong groups and find themselves in the wrong crowds. Not saying a PCSO presence always physically prevents that and there's other issues at hand but you knew if a PCSO was about, they were reliable and trusted. They were almost the go-between between the communities and higher levels of police. That middle-person and link has gone. Now it's about 1 for the whole south area of the river and 2 perhaps for the north. Such a vast difference in presence and effectiveness. It's partly, albeit perhaps only small, a reason why things like gang culture, serious anti-social behaviour and knife crime is on the up. I find the police in this area though are there about protecting people as much as property. Just my experience. They're happy to help out and make sure someone is safe, pretty much what is expected of them from my (work) perspective.

Yeah I don't know if I missed the gist of it all but whenever we've needed police to help with situations (even far removed from what I mentioned earlier), I can't question it. Evictions, assistance on visits, access to properties, Intel, general support if required. Can't really knock it to be honest. You get to recognise some officers who attend with you and get to know them, always been supportive and definitely empathetic. Maybe it's just the situations we find ourselves in where it's rare they'll get out of hand but even so, can't knock them for something that hasn't happened. Even yesterday, we had someone threaten to burn our offices down. Police were called and went to the guy's house. Stayed with him for an hour supporting and calming him down.

Yep. A lot of work currently is gang related which is the focus these days but also in general drug use. Can't say I've noticed any people being targeted other than because of their involvement in gangs and all thay comes with it

Ndidi out for between 6-12 weeks for us. Absolute killer blow for us. Colossal player on his day and gives us that much needed defensive presence in midfield. Will be a huge loss with him absent from the team. Very short on central defensive options as well which makes me think we'll have to spend a lot of money on a centre back. We needed to buy for that position anyway but this very much forces our hand.

Gutted I'm missing this. BT Sport used to air some Turkish games but I think that's only because of lockdown and other football wasn't being played. No doubt it'll be a feisty one. Was looking at this game as a potential for the next one in the First Goal competition. Am I right in thinking Fenerbahce don't have a particularly good record in away at Gala...

That is quite obviously a pretty shit way to have handled stuff from Woodward's perspective and for Ferdinand to experience, but what would have stopped him going in to the club over the next few days and saying those goodbyes to staff around the ground/training ground? Players/staff don't immediately just down tools at the final whistle on the final day of the season. Not being able to say goodbye to the fans when out on the pitch though is shit, admittedly.

How can you front yourself as a 'freedom-loving' country when you've just restricted free movement across 26 other nations in the continent you're in, and compare that to countries (Germany and Italy) who do allow freedom of movement because they're in the EU?

'freedom-loving country'

Is the test and trace stuff working? Regularly hearing stories about the callers not having any calls to make and that it's then become a waste of money/resources...

6 month restrictions for the UK. Wedding numbers down to 15

I think he's got off lightly considering the amount of stick we give to @Bluewolf and @CaaC (John) The Three Wise Men!

Heard on the news earlier Abramovich (and Chelsea?) could be in a bit of trouble for him owning a Sporting Lisbon player who played against Chelsea in CL in 2014. But they may be 'protected' because FIFA didn't bring in the 3rd-party ownership in until 2015. Means he had a conflict of interest, so to speak...

Won't be long til it has to be done anyway Why Union?

@Berserker getting absolutely rattled any time someone dares to speak out against Higuain